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Sunday, 30 September 2012

More snippets from Philosophy 314

So we read a little Galileo, and it was all about something
called corpuscularianism. The world is
full of these little corpuscles which are responsible for such things as our
ability to smell. When the corpuscles
get up our nose, we smell things.

I thought, What is this nonsense? I even skipped the class on Galileo. But then in the next class, referring back to
that one, the prof referred to Galileo’s “atomism.”

Oh, atoms, I thought.
Molecules. They do get up your
nose and trigger sensations of smell.
Hmm.

Though how do I know that?
Why am I prepared to believe in molecules, but not corpuscles?

I think I just went through a defamiliarization experiment,
like in Gulliver’s Travels when the
Lilliputians say that Gulliver keeps his god in his pocket because he won’t do
anything without consulting it, and you think, What nonsense, but it turns out
they’re referring to his watch. Ah, you
think.

Or it has something to do with paradigm shifts and belief
systems. I’ve abandoned many of the
beliefs of my youth, but I still believe in atoms and molecules. God knows why; I’ve never seen either. I suppose that means that if I had never
heard of atomic theory and someone presented it to me now, I’d call it
nonsense. I wonder why. Because it goes against experience?

An argument for not trusting experience and the senses, I
suppose, which leads to Descartes, but I’ve talked about him already.

I suppose I believe in atoms and molecules because some
things you concede to authority, as even the great skeptic, Michel de
Montaigne, said you have to do, because after all you can’t know everything and
you have to trust authorities on some issues.

So I accept atomic theory, but didn’t even recognize it when
presented under a different name (corpuscularianism). Under its strange new name I rejected it
utterly; once I realized it was just another name for atoms and molecules,
well, at first I felt embarrassed and defensive, but eventually I thought,
Okay, so Galileo wasn’t crazy.

Though I only think that because he fits into my current
belief system. Hmm. There’s a moral in there somewhere.